The forced choice dilemma: a model incorporating idiocentric/allocentric cultural orientation

• Autores: Jae Yup Jung, John McCormick, Miraca U. M. Gross
• Localización: Gifted child quarterly, ISSN-e 1934-9041, ISSN 0016-9862, Vol. 56, Nº 1, 2012, págs. 15-24
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study developed and tested a new model of the forced choice dilemma (i.e., the belief held by some intellectually gifted students that they must choose between academic achievement and peer acceptance) that incorporates individual-level cultural orientation variables (i.e., vertical allocentrism and vertical idiocentrism). A survey that had previously been administered to a sample of intellectually gifted Australian adolescents was modified and then administered to a new sample of 450 intellectually gifted Australian students enrolled in Grades 7 through 12. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures. The major findings of the study were that: (a) motivation for academic success and need for peer acceptance generally predict the experience of the forced choice dilemma, and (b) vertical allocentric and vertical idiocentric orientations strongly predict motivation for academic success. The findings of the study provide insights that may assist educators, psychologists, counselors, and family members to better understand, and guide, intellectually gifted students affected by the forced choice dilemma.

    Putting the Research to Use Educators, psychologists, counselors, and families may be able to use the model developed and confirmed in this study to better understand how some intellectually gifted students experience the dilemma arising from a perceived conflict between academic achievement and peer acceptance. The model provides insights on how specific cultural orientations of students may play a part in how the dilemma is experienced. It appears that intellectually gifted students who value human inequality and interdependence are more able to resolve the dilemma; hence, attention in this realm should be focused on those students who place greater importance on human equality and/or independence, for whom the dilemma may be a more difficult issue.